Below is the official press release.
The press release does not mention the various versions (CD, vinyl, the special edition with a litograph). More info at http://www.leonardcohen.com (The limited edition set is only available with pre-orders from the website)

LEONARD COHEN TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM - OLD IDEAS - ON COLUMBIA RECORDS ON JAN. 31, 2012
LAUDED POET'S FIRST STUDIO ALBUM IN EIGHT YEARS IS LATEST IN AN ESTEEMED CAREER SPANNING SIX DECADES

(New York, NY - November 22, 2011) - OLD IDEAS, an album by Leonard Cohen, will be released by Columbia Records on January 31, 2012.

From our master singer-songwriter, here are ten new songs that mine the heart, shake the body, and break the boundaries as everybody knows only Leonard Cohen can do. A signature of our time, Leonard's baritone holds us like the voices of Hank, Frank, and Ray. These are songs that nobody knows and everyone will treasure.

Old Ideas is available for preorder now at http://www.LeonardCohen.com where his song, "Show Me The Place" is also streaming. Fans who pre-order will receive an instant download of the new song.

The album by Leonard Cohen was produced with Patrick Leonard, Anjani Thomas, Ed Sanders and Dino Soldo. Complementing Cohen's signature baritone on Old Ideas are the exceptional vocalists Dana Glover, Sharon Robinson, The Webb Sisters (Hattie and Charley Webb) and Jennifer Warnes. The album's cover design and drawings are Cohen's own.
OLD IDEAS TRACK LISTING:
Going Home
Amen
Show Me The Place
The Darkness
Anyhow
Crazy To Love You
Come Healing
Banjo
Lullaby
Different Sides

Old Ideas will be Cohen's twelfth studio album with Columbia Records since 1967.

Times they're a-changing, indeed --- Pitchfork finally decided to notice there's a musician called Leonard Cohen in this tiny world. At least he got today's headline. I am shocked. But that will not make me their reader again.

There is an error in that press release. Leonard Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1991, not 2006!

jarkko wrote:

Leonard Cohen has been honored as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient (2010), inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame (2008), the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame (2006), the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (2006) and the Songwriters Hall Of Fame (2010). He has received the prestigious Principe de Asturias Prize – the highest literary award in Spain (Spain, 2011) as well as the Glenn Gould Prize, awarded to an individual for a unique lifetime contribution that has enriched the human condition through the arts (Canada, 2011). The Canadian native has earned his country's highest civilian honors - Officer of the Order of Canada (1991), Companion to the Order of Canada (2003), Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec (2008).

Last edited by Roy on Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Great stuff! The only phrase I would question here is "auguably the most overtly spiritual"! When could spirituality ever be measured by degrees? It's true that those who advertise themselves as spiritual are usually the least spiritual, so I'm sure that this is not of Leonard's doing.

I can do without the advance download. Let's hope this album doesn't receive the bombardment of samples, snippets, previews etc. etc. that go with modern marketing. I look forward to hearing a brand new album afresh on 31st January (old ideas are sometimes the best!).

All good things, John E

Last edited by John Etherington on Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Roy wrote:I thought there was going to be an alternate version of I Can't Make Hills from Book of Longing on Old Ideas. I think I heard the other version on 1HeckofaGuy.

There was Leonard's PR announcement in October, he said the only "new song from tour" will be Darkness and rest are left for next album the one which comes after Old Ideas. That includes Born in Chains, Feels So Good, Street, Book of Longing, Puppets, Lullaby (tour version; this is brand new one).

I don't think this will be on the next album, since a version of it will be on Old Ideas, he's not likely to record the same song for two different albums.
Which is a pity, though, because I liked the tour version of Lullaby (though I can't compare, since I haven't heard the new one). I kind of hope (and maybe expect) there will be, at some point, a compilation album of recordings from the 2008-2010 concerts, in which Lullaby would fit nicely.

But let's not be greedy. For the time being, I'm very excited that a new Leonard Cohen album is about to come out and I'm here waiting for it.

Delighted that all the work has now been done on the Album (with the exception of marketing). I am looking forward now, so much to the release date 31/01/1012. Like John earlier I am prepared to wait for the album and hope that were are not drip fed clips between this and then. I was very pleased to see that Jennifer Warnes was involved in the making of the album.

The rumors are true, friends: Old Ideas, Leonard Cohen's first album of new material in eight years, will be released January 31st, 2012. Old Ideas will be Leonard's twelfth studio album with Columbia Records since signing with the label in 1967. Consisting of ten new songs, Old Ideas poetically addresses some of the most profound questions of human existence -- spirituality, love, sexuality, loss and death.

Fans were given a hint of what to expect when Cohen made remarks as the recipient of the Principe de Astrurias Prize for literature in Spain in October:

"As I grew older, I understood that instructions came with this voice. And the instructions were these... Never to lament casually. And if one is to express the great inevitable defeat that awaits us all, it must be done within the strict confines of dignity and beauty.

Old Ideas will be released on CD, digital download, and 180 gram LP. Fans also have the opportunity a purchase a collector's bundle featuring the album and a limited edition lithograph of Leonard's artwork. Lithographs are digitally signed and numbered and limited to 5500 copies. All pre-orders will also come with an instant download of "Show Me The Place." Click here to pre-order.